


Sigh

by SoupShue



Series: The Mad Muse at Midnight [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 00:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8776597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoupShue/pseuds/SoupShue
Summary: I avoided this topic for a while but it's been keeping me up, so here's my ramble I guess.
Edit: Okay, so maybe a horseman, but not the full deal?





	

So, the election has been over for about a month now, and people are still yelling and ranting and screaming and panicking, some people are even seriously considering or have actually taken on emigrating to other nations....and I'm tired. And frustrated. Many people are, there's a healthy dose of unease and wariness right now. Regardless of which political party you voted for, or did not vote for, regardless of who you wish had won, regardless of the fact that Trump ended up winning the Electoral College while Clinton won the popular vote- you are still a human being, an American citizen (unless the person happening to be reading this is not from the US...), and capable of rational informed decision making. Panicked yelling, screaming, and fighting is not the best way to win an argument- it only leads to more yelling, screaming, and panic - often more intense than the yelling you started with. Anonymous cyberbullying and raving is not going to do anything but cloud already turbulent waters. What we have here right now seems to be two sides of the same country convinced that the other side is full of people who want to see the nation burn, we have a divided nation unwilling to view the other half with compassion and understanding, failing on the base level to recognize the other side's humanity. We have people having psychotic breaks and attempting suicide over the outcomes of this political election. Calm. Down.

 

This was an election that was heavily charged way before November 8th ever rolled around, I'm well aware of all of the swirling lies and slander and verbal and political mud that's been slung in both political campaigns since well before we even had time to think about going to the polls. I'm not saying people don't have a right or a reason to be nervous, I think the actions and words of hundreds of thousands of people from both sides of the political rift prove that there are Republicans and Democrats both who are very rightfully nervous and concerned for what will happen in the next few years. I myself am concerned. But that fear does not give me the right to bash someone over the head for an alternate viewpoint, it doesn't give anyone else the right to bash me either, and my fear does not discredit that the other side has valid and rational reasons for acting and believing the way that they do (of course there will always be inevitable radical extremists which exist in every group, category, nation, religion, and community the world over, including all of the political parties in the US, and even those individuals it must be said, operate under logic that happens to be counter to those of the majority)- but that's happening quite a bit, from both sides of this fence. Smacking someone down and screaming at them and calling them names for a viewpoint that they hold that is opposed to yours is not okay - people doing so whilst pointing out all of the terrible horrendous things that Trump has said, his bigotry, hatred, and bullying especially make me want to headdesk so hard because YOU ARE IN THAT MOMENT BEHAVING LIKE THE PERSON YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO DISCREDIT AND SHAME, it does nothing but make you a bully, and put the person you're arguing with on the defensive, because it is an attack. Honest discussion and open listening are VITALLY IMPORTANT on both sides, and it seems to be sorely lacking. ON BOTH SIDES.  

 

In my opinion, if you are one of the 46 percent of the eligible voting populace who DID NOT VOTE, and you did so not because of a legitimate inability to get an absentee ballot, transportation to a voting station, or another reason, there are many... but if you did not vote simply out of laziness, apathy, and complacent wishful thinking than you should not now be screaming or despairing or raving about the results, you left your voice silent in a sea of millions, never realizing that your voice might have been the one to turn the tide in a direction more favorable to you. I was watching the election results come in realtime on the 8th, those vote margins were very VERY close together for a large portion of the day, within the hundreds of thousands, and I know that local elections were even closer, sometimes coming down to a few hundred votes. Who knows what would have happened if more people had voted? I hope some of that percentage will think about taking action in another 4 years. If you are one of the roughly 200,000 people who voted for Harambe- a DEAD gorilla (what, pray tell, kind people would you have done if Harambe had won? Congress would have chosen the President then, did you know that?) - I have a question for you, not because you voted for a dead gorilla, this is America, you can vote for a dead gorilla if you want to; but because I would hope that you took some refreshers on how voting works in the US, CPG Gray did a great 4ish minute video, and that you would know that a vote for a third party in a two party majority counts as a vote AGAINST the candidate you most want to win (or maybe in your case, the candidate that sucks the least) {now that I read that last sentence over, I realize that anyone voting with a write in could put a potato, a pet rock, or a mystical magical unicorn in that space since they are all effectively equal}. You have your own reasons for voting for a dead gorilla, and as the election is past, this all is prologue anyhow. I personally spent a full ten minutes standing inside my voting booth, having already filled in every other circle on my ballot, national, state, and local, pen hovering over the presidential candidates before I finally made my decision and put ink on that page...I don't think it was an easy decision for many people.     

 

The only way we're getting through this quagmire is by keeping calm and marching on, by allowing our rational, cooperative, thinking minds to overtake our lizard brains so we can navigate the foggy waters ahead. We have to, in the words of best selling author John Green, imagine each other complexly. We need to take a deep breath and start calm, rational conversations - we have to firmly believe that the people who voted for Donald Trump are not some sort of democracy hating enemy, for that way lies madness and ruin - we have to be willing to listen to one another and collaborate with one another. Hilary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE, more citizens wanted her as president than did not, though again, that margin was in the hundreds of thousand which is narrow considering the population of the US. The United States of America is not solely its leader, it is a nation of millions of people, and even one person has power. Instead of burning energy raging and ranting and fighting with one another, let's spend energy looking for constructive outlets we can contribute to on a global, national, state, and local scale, let's remember that the people we live and work and play and breathe around are human just like the rest of us, regardless of race, religion, political affiliation, creed, anthem, or quirk of any kind, let's reserve our fear and hatred and judgement of people we find "other" simply because of their "otherness" and attempt to keep open minds, compassionate hearts, gentle words, and helpful hands at the forefront, let's remember that the United States is bigger than our president and that we the people have much power. We need good people from all walks of life, all different viewpoints, and all manner of ways of perspective, because broad perspectives help shape our progress. This is not Armageddon, this is not a hopeless void, we are still alive, still free to protest and fight and skirmish and debate and advocate for our own views and perspectives. It was an election, not a war, it does no good to fight so from within. This is a nation, a nation of millions of humans living millions of lives, and we're still living. I hope people can stop panicking long enough to recognize that.       


End file.
